Gambling On Death
by KissMyPhysics
Summary: "You, my dear need to get L to love you." Huh? "...Possibly have his freaky little children." Again, huh? When Kira dies, Light and Kira separate once more, allowing Death to win a bet.
1. Chapter 1

The day is awfully boring, but that should have made it so he _didn't_ see that damn thing fall from the sky. Instead, he watches it distractedly as it flutters to the gravel grounds of his high school.

No one else was paying attention, because he was just too smart for his own good, so he had to be distracted and _had to be the only one to see it._

The bell rang after what seemed like hours, and all his peers piled out, leaving him to move sedately after the rowdy masses, still wandering about that little black _something_ that dropped through the edges of his vision.

But he didn't have to wander long, because it soon sits at it his feet, patiently waiting, _watching_, for someone to pick it up, to be its next victim.

And, like putty Fate's hands, or a pawn in a game, he bends down to pick it up.

He doesn't have to wait long before he felt it.

Suddenly he feels sick to his stomach, the almost tangible feel of slimy and slick _evil_ traveling from the point where he touches the book, making him dizzy, because he now knows that is what it is, a dark, _demonic_ book that is crawling up his skin, sinking into his bones and rattling his _everything_. His heart, his soul, his _sanity_. And that is where it lies, making a whole to rest in where his reason use to live.

His vision goes blank and then Light's cinnamon eyes turn red.

And Kira is born_._

They fight over Light's body, becoming a walking contradiction. Kira wins _(because he will always win from now on , forever and ever…)_ and Light is thrown in a dark place of his own making to protect himself. Protect himself from that shinigami and that Death Note. But most of all, to protect himself from L.

The new Light, _Kira_, sees L as a threat. Light felt his anger after their first encounter, and with Kira's anger, came Light's hope. Hope that L would find out, kill Kira and save _him_, the real Light. But that sort of thing sounded too much like a romance novel, or better yet, a fairy tale. Light could almost muster the strength to laugh. The valiant prince L (if he was, in fact a man) coming to save the damsel in distress, locked somewhere dark and cold, the walls closing in…..

Light shook his head (or maybe he didn't, it was too hard to tell), that sort of thing wouldn't, _couldn't_ happen. It was impossible.

Besides, he knew he had been arrogant, cruel, sarcastic, and to be honest, kind of a slut. Fate didn't owe him any favors, she wouldn't save him, no one would save him.

As time goes on, Light begins to lose hope as he watches through silk screens and listens as the world goes on. They don't need him, because they thought they already _had_ him. But this Light was new, improved; he came across as charming and modest, and with that little bit of attractive innocence. He was Kira.

But he killed too. He worked every night, toiling away at that damn book, the shinigami (Ryuk, Light was sure his name was, with a creepy obsession with apples he remembers. Sometimes he forgets what those taste like….) crouching in his room leering down at Kira (not Light, never Light) as he brought justice to the world, cleansing it in a tsunami of massacre.

Sometimes Light doubts Kira even knows they are two different entities within the same body, one suppressing the other. But then late at night (he's pretty sure it's night, his body being asleep and all…) he knows the new Light is taunting his predecessor, silently, subtly, so you couldn't even tell if you weren't sharing the same body.

But they did, and Light was left to suffer in the abyss.

His only solace is found when L finally shows his face. Kira and Light are astounded, but for two completely different reasons.

(_'So he's ugly and a coward'_ Kira thinks quietly. _'He's very intresting. I wish_ I _could talk to him.' _Light thinks even quieter.)

L suspects him, and Light cheers for him as he throws wrench after wrench into Kira's plans.

L is daring, intelligent, with a way of thinking like nothing else in the world. Light can't help but fall in love, if just a little bit.

Then, they are detained, and Kira thinks of a scheme that brings more hope to Light than ever before.

'_Get rid of the notebook? I'll be free!' _He tries to squash his hope in fear of disappointment, but it lingers and then rebuilds itself to the point of bursting when those four glorious words are uttered.

"…get rid of it."

And Light is free.

He can't remember why he feels so free and giddy. In fact, he can't remember much at all, everything blurred and faded in his recent memory.

Light's elation at being free of whatever that was was short lived as he became aware of his surroundings. He feels so senseless, so stupid as he pleads for his freedom from a man he can't even see, but know he loves.

He is confused as he loads into the car with that girl (Misa, he knows. but the name churns frightening things, and he'd rather not think it.

Then Light is frightened and relived and then he's working with them, just like that, and everything is going so quickly as more layers in the Kira case present themselves and the only thing that is in real time is _L_. Oh, L.

But then the shinigami shows up, and holy _Hell_, isn't that scary. L is beside him, as transfixed as he is, and then he feels the cool cover of the demon book…. And Light loses himself to his dark abyss once more.

Kira congratulates himself on his victory and somewhere deep and frightening, Light cries.

He is panicked now, because he can't feel _anything_ anymore, just suffocating dark and the sound of hope, flying away.

The veil has lightened now, and he sees so clearly, that for one beautiful, glorious second, he is certain he's back in control. But no, he isn't, because that ugly poison is still holding his puppet's strings, even in what he knows to be his final moments.

Finally, everything spins and fades, a final show of light and color for the dying man, and the he goes slack.

And in those few, terrifyingly long seconds, Kira falls like dust from his mind, body, and soul, and Light is as free as the wing herself, and then his heart stops, and Kira's and Light's body dyes.

But where, oh where does Light go?


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Light was aware of was pain. Hot, sweltering pain, burning his bones and boiling his blood.

He let out a scream, only to have the sound strangled by the impenetrable darkness, suspending him in a vacuum of nothing. He felt pulled to his very max; he would do anything for a respite. Then a voice echoed in the dark, as silent as a whisper and a loud roar at once.

"_I have a proposal for you my dear, and it will save you from this. Will you accept?"_

It was no nonsense and vaguely feminine. Light couldn't find it in himself to respond, but shrieked once more when the darkness tightened, amplifying the pain.

The voice was faintly frustrated now, with an edge of amused malice.

"_Well? I do not have all day dear. Accept my offer, do my bidding, and you will be free."_

His garbled scream turned into a gasping word. "Yes."

The laughter was filled with glee, promising Light much pain and suffering.

"_Excellent. See you soon."_

And things were quiet, and for a split second Light wondered how he wasn't dead, before he passed out.

"Little dear, you will wake up, yes?" Light groaned; it was as though every single body part had suddenly acquired its own, personal heartbeat. And that heavily slurred voice wasn't helping.

"Mghwhfg!" He complained, feebly swatting at whoever it was. A deep chortle sounded above him, and the strange voice commented, "You act like little sleepy kitty, no?"

Light snorted in indignation, and cracked his eyes open to see who the hell called him a kitten, and promptly tell the ass off. He was, however, taken aback by the female _thing_ hovering above him, with a slightly smug look on her face.

"Eyes like kitty too. 'Dis going to be easier than I thought!" The funny girl-thing cheered, and lifting up off of him, offering a sharp, white hand to him.

The she thing grinned, showing off pointed black teeth with serrated fangs on both the lower and upper rows of teeth. Standing full height, she was unnaturally tall, with a waif thin frame and grossly elongated limbs. Her eyes glowed toxically, one red, the other pure gold. She was rather young looking, although her hair was grey, jagging dramatically at her waist. All in all, she was rather terrifying, and looked like a female version of Ryuk.

Light's eyes widened almost comically as his memories slammed into his limp body with a vengeance.

Ryuk. Kira. L. Oh god, oh god, oh god. "Why aren't I dead?" He gasped; it was as though all the air rushed out and slammed back in all at once. This was insane; he knew he died-he _felt_ it, damn it- so why was he lying on a hardwood floor of an empty apartment?

"Slow down, darling kitty; don't want you to die all ova' again just after I fixed you up." The woman put a steading hand on his shoulder and smiled at him; suddenly a thought struck Light.

"You were that voice, weren't you? That woman's voice in the dark." Her smile stretched wider, meaning he was probably right. "So, why do you sound so different and why the _hell _aren't I dead?" Light was panicking again, he could feel his chest spasm.

"Well, I can speak every language jus' fine. 'm just not used to a body is all; give it a lil' min-ute." Cinnamon eyes blinked at her in disbelief. "What?"

"Little kitty, haven' you guessed what I am 'et? _Who_ I am?" Light sat up slowly and uneasily accepted the bony hand. The woman was much stronger than her frame let on, and she easily hauled him to his feet. The brunette contemplated it for a second. "Are you a shinigami?"

The woman grinned in a way that Light found reminiscent of a shark. "Not quite, kitty. 'm not _a _death god, 'm _the_ death god." "You're their king?" Another grin. "Naw, 'm death herself. The very spirit of pain and the endin' of life."

His response was a faint 'oh'. Light looked rather sick to his stomach. He had already gotten over death gods; no, what bothered him was what death _wanted_ with him. "What do you want?"

Death looked at him as though he were a cute, albeit slow, child. Don't cha' remember wha' chu said, Little Light? Don't cha' remember wha' chu' promised me?" Death whispered, her head bent down to his level.

Light paused and thought for a moment. What had he said? What had he-

'…_do my bidding, and you will be free.' 'Yes.'_

Oh. _Oh._ "You- I made a deal with you." He looked up into glowing eyes. "What do you want me to do?"

"Mm, direct, ain't 'cha kitty? I like that." Light cut her off before she could say more. "Stop calling me kitty, damnit!" Brown eyes sparked with defiance, and her eyebrows flew to her hairline.

"Watch what you say to me darlin', I'm Death and am fully prepared to tear you limb from limb, no matter how useful you may be."

Light shifted in his blood-stained suit; he gazed at Death, jaw locked. She responded in kind, her strange eyes flashing with something unrecognizable. Light breathed through his nose, letting out a quiet _swoosh_. "Fine, just tell me what you want, so we can finish this and I can live an actual life, preferably until I get wrinkly." Light then set out to wear a bunker into the apartment's floor.

Death's thin lips stretched sharply, smiling triumphantly. "Good answer darlin'. You see, what I need you to do is fantastically simple, just help me win a bet." Stopping his pacing, Light turned on her incredulously, his final anxious pant coming out as a semi-hysterical snort. "A _bet?_ You raised me from the afterlife just so you could win a _bet?_"

Death waggled her finger at him playfully, twirling her grey locks in a ditzy manner. "Oh no kitten, not just any bet, but a very important bet I made with my cousin. Maybe you heard of her, Time's one infamous bitch. Anyhow, Time bet that the two saddest human sacks in the world couldn't find happiness before the end of their natural lives. _I_ said that I would be able to make them ridiculously, off-of-their-shit-happy, and we bet something _very_ important, and I am determined to _win_ that bet."

The speech earned her an eyebrow in the hairline. "Oh? Is that so?" an eager nod. "Then I am _happy_ to help." Despite the vaguely sarcastic line, Death raised her hands in victory. "That's good little one, because," She shifted somewhat awkwardly, "It's rather funny, 'eally. See, those humans I was tellin' you about are you, and L Lawliet." Ignoring the gaping, stuttering boy, Death plowed on:

"My idea is really rather simple." Pause for effect. "I've already done the hard part and brought L back to life; all you have to do is get him to fall in love with you."

Light's genius-level mind sputtered to an ungracefully. He found himself temporarily robbed of the ability to speak coherently. Until, of course, Death desided to tack something on:

"And possibly have bare him strange little babies." Light then ceased to function comepletely, brain having blown up. Or, that's what it seemed like, as he lost balance and watched dreamily as the ground rushed up to meet him. He heard a faint little 'oh, bother' before he blacked out blissfully.


End file.
